The Associated Students UCLA Board of Directors approved a proposal Friday to install six reclining chairs in the Kerckhoff Hall study lounge.
The board approved the proposal in a 10-0 vote after a discussing the cost and function of the chairs and how they would fit in the space provided. They will each cost about $1,500, said Adam Swart, an undergraduate representative on the ASUCLA board and a fifth-year political science student.
In November, Swart proposed installing sleep pods that would have replaced the lounge and pool table on the third floor of Ackerman Union and cost between $30,000 to $45,000.
The board did not vote on the proposal after voicing concern over the cost of the sleep pods.
Swart said he thinks the proposal for the reclining chairs is an improvement over November’s plan because it costs significantly less and would not displace any furniture.
Still, many students said they do not think installing the chairs is a good use of money.
Micah Sarmiento, a second-year psychobiology student who often uses the study lounge, said she feels uncomfortable with ASUCLA using funds to purchase the chairs because she doesn’t think they are cost-effective.
“If the (new reclining) chairs were in here, I would use them just as much as I use a regular chair,” Sarmiento said.
Swart said he wants to install the chairs because he thinks they could help remedy students’ sleep deprivation, which he believes inhibits their ability to function academically and poses health risks.
“Sleep pods were a great idea, and we may consider it in the future,” Swart said. “But for right now the reclining chairs are a good pilot program to test if this approach (creating more sleep spaces) works.”
The chairs also offer versatility to serve student needs, said Roy Champawat, director of the UCLA Student Union.
“Students can sleep, study, check their smartphones and computers – do whatever in these chairs,” Champawat said. “Students use the furniture for a lot of different things, and it’s not up to us to tell them what to do, but to make it comfortable for them to use it.”
Champawat added that he thinks the Kerckhoff study lounge is an ideal space for the chairs, because he has seen students use new furniture in the space when it was added it in the past.
“I feel very clear that more furniture (means) more students being taken care of,” he said.
Jessica Yan, a first-year business economics student, said she thinks the chairs are a great idea, but is also worried about the cost.
“We should have these chairs; students don’t always have time to go back to their dorm or apartment to sleep between classes,” Yan said. “But $1,500 a chair? That’s too much.”
Amy Liu, a graduate student representative on the Board of Directors, said the association looked at the Human Touch Perfect Chair model as an example, but the motion did not include a provision to approve a specific chair.
A specific model will probably be reviewed by the Services Committee again at a later date, Liu said.